Process of purifying and refining iron.



J. B. NAU.

PROCESS OF PURIFYING AND REFINING IRON. APPLICATION FILED SEPT.16,1909.

Patented Feb. 21, 1911.

MUTNESSES:

- JOHN B. NAu-or new YORK, n.

rnoonss on PUBIFYING AND Rnrmme IRON.

Specification of Iietters Pa'te nt "Patented .21, 1 911,

Application filed September 1 ,1909; Serial No. 518,014.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN Bi- NAU, a citizen of the United States of America, resid ing at New York city, county of New York,

and State of New York, have invented a" new and useful Improvement in Processes of Purifying and 'Refining, Iron, of which the following is a "specification.-

The present invention relates to a refining and purifying process with the twofold. purpose of obtaining onone hand a rapid partial refining ofxpig' iron by means of iron. ore or othersuitable metallic oxids,and on the 7 other hand a controllable final temperature of the refined metal within desired .limits, wherebyit-will be made possible to impart at all times enoughfluidityto the refined metal andt'ne slag forming during the refining operation to run both metal and slag :The rapid refining the metal, forming the chemical partof 'theprocess, will be' obtained by creating very intimate-and extended contact ,between the liquid pig iron .to be refined and the purifying ore used in the refining operation, with the aid of special' immersion means of the kind forming the basis of my PatentNo. 7 86,048 of March 28, .1905.

The part al refining of pig iron contenr plated inthe process described in the above named patent as well as in the process here'- 'inafter described, consists in the partial as silicon, phosphorus, manganese, carbon, sulfur and some others, less commonly but possibly found 111 p1g iron.

It is well known that when establishing intimate contact under the right conditions of temperature between pig. iron to be refined and oxidizing material, such, as for instance, oxld of iron or thekind found in iron ore-s, which latterv can therefore be'used as 'an' oxidizing materiah'the above-named elements will be eliminated to a certain degree andin a certain order by oxidation, and the oxygen necessary in this oxidation will be reduced from the iron ore and the contemplatedrefining of theiron will naturally But this refining, constituting take place. the mainobject of the only result. obtained. Lilrejall other ch-emi'-- cal operations, the reactions taking place during the refining will naturally vgive rise to calorific phenomena, that through their Withoutdifliculty from the refining a'pp'a-fi ratus. c

elimination from theiron of such elements operation,- is not the" action on the finaht'emperature. of the refined metal and the resulting slag will largely influence the final success of the operation. Thus the. oxidation or burning of the elements in question. on the one hand will be a source of heat, while onth'e other hand the reduction of oxygen from the oxidizing material will be a cause of heat consumption.

Adding the heat derived from the oxidation of the elements to the heat derived from, all other sources, amongwhich may be mentioned theheat. brought in by the'heated ore, the heat contained in the liquid i-ron, the heat of formationof the slag, etc., and subtracting fromthe total heat thus furnished.

allthe heat required in the reduction of the oxygen from the oxidizing materiahthe heat required to raise the temperature of the ore to the final temperature in the operation, the

latent. heat of fusion of the slag, the heat lost by radiation, etc., a fairly correct idea 'as to the final temperature of the refined metal can be obtained.' I

.Withthe use of the calorific factors establis edby. experiment 'and necessary in the heat calculation, it can be shown that when eliminating from the metal theelements. Si P and Mn by means of oxygen derived from Fe O for instance, more: heat will be developed in the oxidation of the elementsthan there will be heat consumed in the dissociation of Fe O It can further be'shown that by burning carbon to CO by means of oxygen derived from Fe O a great loss of The removal' of the heat will take place. first three elements from the iron under the conditions will-therefore be accompanied by an increase 0f temperature of the refined metal, While the removal of carbon under the same conditions will be the cause or a falljn thecfina'l' temperature of them'etal. The removal or-partial removal of. carbon vwould, therefore, be detrimental tot-he calorific. conditions of the herein proposed.

process. But in a rapid refining process the nature'hereinafter" described, the removal of this element is neither conte1nplated nor to be feared.-

Experience such as obtained inthe manufacture of washmetal, for instance, shows that when submitting liquid pig'iron-to the rapid refining action of iron oxide under the rightconditions of temperature, the removal of carbon will only begin or 'will hardly have started at 'the moment when all the otherelements have been removed to the desired extent. The nature itself of the puritying. process contemplates; such rapid'action jzreatly for the purpose of avoiding the elimination of carbon with the accompanying loss of heat. This elimination in mostcases will be far below of the total carbon. The bulk of this 'ele-' ment will, therefore, still remain in therefined metal, toward the final fluidity of which at a relatively low temperature it will contribute very materially.

The establishment of the heat balance on the lines above indicated will show that certain classes of pig iron refined rapidly under the right conditions in the manner tions the refining operation furnishes its own heat and is self-sustaining.

. With a different iron, .or even the same iron present under somewhat different conditions, as, for instance, to original heat or composition of refining ore, a slight loss of temperature will be found in the refined metal. Still even in this case the operation can be successful, provided the temperature of the original pig iron be far above its melting point as will be; the case, for instance, with iron running from the blast furnace, in which iron is stored away a surplus of heat that when used up in the operation willi fi nake the latter successful, because the temperature of the refined metal will still be enough for all practical purposes. In'this case again the refining operation will be self-sustaining.

The method described and claimed in my Patent No. 786,048 of March :28, 1905 is of thisself-sustaining nature; it furnishes its own heat, but as no provision. is made or contemplated in that process for the use of any other heat source to take part in there fining operation proper, the final temperature of the refined metal can not be corrected nor otherwise controlled. Still, under the rightconditions of temperature of refining ore and pig iron and with the right i cliemical compositionor" the latter, the selfsustaining operation can be carried out-very successfully in many cases. But owing to the unfavorable chemical composition of a large classof pig iron found in the market or owing to other unfavorable conditions, the heatderived from the chemical sources during the refining operation added to the heat from the other heat sources would not he sufiioient to make the selfsustaining method applicable in all cases.

The partial refining of most pig iron can be made practical under-varying conditions combination of two ble to reach for such refinin in the furnace and not more.

restraint on top by adding during the refining operation proper the heat from an independent outside heat source to the heat derived from the chemical heat source,-which latter is the only one directly taining method during the refining operation proper and in the refining zone. This heat sources, of which one is always under control, makes it possia large class of iron that could not possl ly be treated successfully by the self-sustaining method. The best outside heat source, the only one.

that. can be applied during refining the refining zone and controlled with the greatest ease, is electricity.

For rapid refining very intimate and ever renewed contact between the iron to be refined and the refining ore must be created. Doing this in the manner obtained in the open hearth furnace, for instance, would not do. In this latter an amount of ore, limited by the amountof iron to be refined, is used The lighter float freely and Without of the heavier liquid metal, into which it sinks only to its naturally limited depth of immersion or its natural depth of immersion. The contact thus obtained, instead of being renewed, decreases on the contrary with the melting of the ore until it ore will naturally becomes limited to the surface of'contact be-' tween the liquid iron and the supernatent liquid slag formed. Refining is necessarily s 0W.

To obtain a largely increased amount of contact and to renew it, when in the course of refining it tends to decrease, it is proposed to use in the furnace at a normal period an amount of ore largely in excess of what would be required to refine to the desired extent the mass of liquid iron contained in the crucible. This so-called excess of ore in pieces used in the proposed method should )6 enough at all normal times to form above the surface of the metal a body of ore that by means of the furnace itself or by other means should be kept in a sufficiently compact body to act with its weight on the immersed ore below with sufficient power to push the latter down to any desired depth of immersion greater than its natural depth of immersion, which desired depth maybe termed special immersionor special depth of immersion, and to keep it there for the necessary reactions and to renew it by push ing down new supplies of ore, when in the course of refining the ore confined in the bathbecomes consumed and partly rises as melted slag to the surface of the metal. Thus the means employed to keep the ore on top of the bath in one solid column, making it possible for the latter to act with its weight on the ore in the bath andcthe weight of this ore columnitself and any other:

developed in the self-sits 'ture of'thefurnace especially designed to Ipreventthe immersed-ore from leavlng the batheXceptwhen liquefied and melted and iany other-means of any kind helping to push or keep immersed the ore in the bath beyond its natural depth of immersion, constitute what I may best call here special immersion means. Other such means may be used;

Whatever-the nature of the refining or .0 oxidizing material used andwhatever the name under which it is called, it, is always to be considered as'being constituted of pieces .of'solid ore, but it may be ore in pieces or any othersuitable metallic oxid in pieces, =1 forminga column of ore or an ore body in the refiningapparatus.--

The accompanying drawings will fully illustrate one furnace in which the method ;ean'becarried outwith the application of electrical heatingp In these drawings Figure I. is a vertical cross section of an electric furnace on line T e-I of Fig. II." Fig. II. is atop plan view of Fig.1. :Fig'. 'III. }is a vertical cross-sec- 5 tion OIi;llI1QII I-III"O Fig. IVL Fig. IV. f isPa horizontal cross section on; line II-II of Figj llI... Fig. V].- ishows a modified por- 'tion of :the furnace. 1 u i The furnace shown in Figs. I. and II.- has a-crucibleor reaction zone 1, surrounded by firebrick wall2,.aa1d'a, cast-iron water cooled roof 3, supporting a vertical ore shaft 4:, preferabjly. wider in its lower end, surmount ,p-e'd ia eharging hopper arrangement 5.

Threegb enings 6 in the roof lead to a circu- .lalrbust e pipe, Tand a vertical pipe 8 closed "a valvel), operated by leverlO; a

. con gqpipe 11 makes communication be- 4 tweed pipefiand the top of the furnace. A 4o nunihe of electrodes 12, placed vertically arou' heupper shaft, traverse the roof --antl ane indirectconnection with'one end of "t-heelejetric current. ,--T1'e; bouom 13 is made of rammed carbon 'i pasteforj graphite and has rods of iron 14. feast. into the bot-tom plate 15 with a conftaetpiece. 16in connection/with the other end]; of the electric current. .A slag hole 17 is placed in the upper part of the crucible, fioandfanovertlow opening 18 or a-hole 27,

shown in dotted lines, establishes communication betweencrucible 1 and reservoir 19. i-Overflow 18 may be placed at any convenirnthei'ght above the bottom.

' Reservoir 19 has a gas inlet 20 connectedby communication 28,- an

ke flue 22 and a tap hole.\ "523. Pipe 8 is. providedwith a branch 24 dandcrucible 1 has a -tap hole 25. .An inlet 1hr ffor liquid iron isv shown in 26'. This inlet laced in any part of the height of the crucible or upper shaft. i Reservoir .19 may be left out if judged more convenient. In that case the reserto'bustle pipe 7 I i airinlet 21,'a slno either as shown'in Figs. III. and IV. where overflow 18 leads directly outside, or as shown in Fig. V. Where'the treated metal leaving through hole 27, flows into a forehearth 29, provided in its bottom with a nozzle 30,normally closed by a stopper 31. This stopper can be operated with any convenient device, left out purposely. so as not to complicate-. the drawings.

No doors or openings are shown in any part of the apparatus; some'wouldnaturally be provided where judged necessary in reservoir, crucible and upper. shaft.

Forthe preliminary heatingvof the apparatus, gas or oil can be introduced through gas port 20, or through smoke stack 22,.or through any other opening especially-provided for that purpose and the products of combustion can escape through hopper 5, or connection 11 or openings 6, after having. heated the apparatus or the ore. i

The operation is substantially. as follows: After the apparatus has been filled with refining oXid or ore and everything is ready, the pig iron to be refined and purified is runthrough inlet 26. It will percolate and descend through the body of pieces of ore or metallic voxid in the furnace,accumulate on the bpttom, its level will risethrough the fined ore until it overflows-at 18, while con the slag formed will flow out through 17. Thus very intimate contact between ore and liquid iron is obtained and maintained. As the ore in the-lower part is consumed in. the purifying operation, new supplies of it are pushed down into the bath. by the column of ore ontop, additional ore can be introduced through the hopper and in its descentv become graduallyraised in temperature by the heat arising from the reaction zone below. The ore contained in the bath in the crucible will naturally scatter sid'ewise during the refining operation and once removed from the direct action of the weight of the ore body on top, it would rise laterally were it not prevented from doing so by the conlining action of roof 3. This. roof, therefore, constitutes a special immersion means. The length of contact between ore and liquid metal will naturally vary with the amount 115 of liquid iron that enters the'vessel in the unit of time. The operation thus described is continuous. It may happen that once the supply of ore confinedJin-the bath consumed, the column of ore on top will not act with all its weightand to asulticient extent to push a new supply of ore far eiiough. down into'the bath to create as inuchcontact betweenore and liquid iron as there should be for-rapidand thorough reactions. This difficulty can easily be overcome. in the following manner: The influx of liquid-iron. can be interrupted, and after the iron contained in the purifying. zone has been exvoi r side'of the furnace would be terminated posed for a sufficient length of time to the purifying action of the ir'nmersed ore, it is tapped off through tap 11010.25, or as the case may be, run off through 271ml 23 The level of the iron bath sinking, the br ecolumn will naturally follow'under its own weight or otherwise, until its base rests-againion' of metal tapping shown in F ig. V, by means of which the metal is evacuated through nozzle 30, by raising stopper rod 31, after having stopped the influx of metal through inlet opening26,.and afterenough refined metal has been evacuated through the nozzle to allow the foot of the ore column-to again rest on the bottom, the nozzle is again closed by stopper 31, and a new supply of metal to be refined is poured into the fur-' nace through 26 and the same cycle of operations continued. lith the use of'any of these two means an intermittently continuous method is created, in which full intimate contactbetween liquid iron and refining material will easily be established. The ore once confined in the rising bath will naturally be kept there until consumed or melted under the lnfiuence of the special immerslon means. In orderto prevent any lowermgof temperature during the operation the electrio current is turned on, and passing betweenlthe electrodes 12 and bottom 13, traverses the layer of slag and the liquid metal, .heating the possibly cooled or cooling bath to a temperature sufficiently high to easily run both iron and slag from the furnace. The electrodes, placed vertically, can be moved up and down to suit conditions.

They are preferably kept at a short distance above the surface of the slag so as to prevent as much as possible any reaction between the carbon of the electrodes and the iron oxid of the slag, which under ordinary circumstances would have a cooling effect on the operation. The gases, to a large extent CO, developed during reactions, will escape through openings 6 1nto bustle-pipe 7, or through connection 11, and can be burnt,

together with additional gas or oil supplied through 2+: or otherwise, above the surface of the metal bath gathering in reservoir 19. Thus, under certain conditions, part of the heat carried away by the gases resulting from the operation can be recuperated. The metal contained in reservoir 19 is evacuated through tap hole and from crucible 1 through tap hole 25 if necessary. If, in Fig. I, overflow-181s suppressed and the metal allowed to enter reservoir 19 through communication 27, shown in dotted lines, especially when this latter is made lar 'e, there will be practically only one single bath ofmetal extending over crucible and reservoir. In that case the metal bath will actually be electricity heated up by both electricity the latter partly derived if two external heat sources aref employed inheat ng up the bath. Should it be desirable reservoir.

The above described furnace was-designed so as to embody features that will at all times during mmersion means carry out the operation 'in the manner proposed. One of these features is the downward widening shaft, placed above the crucible. This shaft naturally keeps the ore in one solid column, that will press With 'sufficient weight on theore in the bath to overcome the buoyancy and push down into the bath new supplies of ore to take the place of consumed refining material. Such a shaft put ina convenient place, but so as to create an immersion means, will therefore contribute very materially to the success of the operation.

Any other design of furnace may be adopted, as well as any other immersion means, that will produce special immersion of the ore.

I" claim as my invention:

1. A process of purifying and refining pig iron by'means of iron ore, which process consists in introducinrr into an electrical refining furnace proviiled with special immersion means, an excess of ore in pieces, pouring liquid pig iron into the furnace in such a .ianner that the liquid pig iron will percolate through the mass of ore in pieces, causing a bath, of liquid metal to accumulate on the bottom of the furnace, letting the level of the bath wise to a desired height through the massof ore pieces, creating andmain-' taini'ng special immersion of ore pieces in the bath for the'perioddesired with the aid of the special immersion means, raising the temperature of the metal in the crucible to a desired height during the refining operation by means of the electrical heating, then separating the liquid purified metal from the oxidizing material, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A process of purifying and refining pig iron by means of iron ore, which process consists in placing into an electrical refining furnace provided with special .immersion means, an excess of ore in pieces, introducing liquid pig iron into the crucible of the furnace. causing a bath of liquid metalvto accumulate on the bottom of the-furnace,

the operation create the special considered necessary to and oil or-ga s, suitable from 4 the reactions in the reducing zone and-partly supplied from outside'sources art-will. Thus 4 could a'lsd'be used to heat the refining material above the bath, keeping the temperature in the crucible I at a desired height by means of the electrical current during therefining operation, then separating the liquid purified metal from the oxidizingmaterial, substantially as and for the purpose set-forth,

3. A process of purifying and refining d, purified metal from the lower of-the ore pig'iron in an electrical furnace provide with a crucible and an ore shaft above the crucible, which process consists in charging;

through the ore shaft ore in pieces into the crucible and the ore shaft,intro.ducing liquid pig iron into the crucible, allowing a 'bath of said pig iron to accumulate-on the'bottom of the crucible, allowing the level of said bath to 'rise' to a desired height through the lower part'of the mass ofore pieces in the crucible, keepingthe ore in mersed in said metallic bath for a desired period under the action of the weight of the ore in the shaft and the confining action" of the roof o-Ver the crucible, heating the metal in the crucible to a desired tempe-rature dur-. ing the refining operatlon by. meansof elec.

tricity, then separating the liquid' purifi'ed metal from the oxidizing-material, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

.4. A process of purifying pig iron. by:

means of iron ore. in pieces in an electrical furnace provided wlth'an ore shaft, a cruc1- ble and a forehearth, which process consists in refining llquld pig iron in the crucibleof the furnace bymeans of an excess of iron ore v in pieces, kept immersed in the liquid iron to a desired depth under the influence of special immersion means, allowing the liquid purified iron to run from said crucible into said forehearth, keeping the metal in the crucible heated up by electricity during the refining operation, and keeping the metalinthe forehearth heated up by the heat from a flame playing over the surface of the metal contained in said forehearth, substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

5. A process of purifying and refining pig iron by means of iron ore in an electrical furnace provided with an ore shaft, a crucible and a forehearth, which vprocess consists in refining liquid pig iron in .said crucible f of said furnace by means of ironore in pieces kept immersed in said liquid iron to a desired depth under the influence of special immersion'means, allowing the liquid puri-. fied iron to run "from said crucible into said forehearth, keeping the metal in said o'rucible heated up by electricity during the refin ing operation, and keeping the metal in said forehearth heated up by heat from an outside source.

6. A continuous process of purifying and refining pigiron in an electrical furnace provided with special immersion means, which;

process consists in chargingan excess of ore in pieces into said furnace,- bringing liquid" pig iron in contact with the lower part of the ore body,-causing a bath, of saidpig iron to "accumulate on thebottorn ofjsaid furnace,

allowing the level of the bathto through the mass of ore in pieces,

mersion ofthe lower partof the-f .orehpdy in the metallic bath under the'actionbf said special immersion means, drawing of! liquid body, drawing off the slagv ormed by the reactions, making the. ore body in 'the furnace, .addin'g new suppliesgofjoi'e atthe top of the ore--body,'-introdm;i 1igaadditional liquid pig iron to the lower part'of a theor'e body, and heating theimet dl lthe reaction, zone to the desired temperatureiby means of the electrical current the purifying period and before ofi;

said n 1e-tal.--

v 7. A'process of purifying and refining pig iron inan electrical furnace providedwitha crucible and an ore shaft, which process consists in charging theore' in pieces into the crucible and theoreshaft, introducing liquid pig iron into the crucible, allowing a bath of said pig iron to accumulate on the bottom of said crucible, allowing the level of said bath to rise to a desired height through the lower part of the mass of ore pieces in the crucible, keeping'the ore immersed in the ih'eta-llic'bath for a desired period under the action of the weight of the ore in the shaft andthe confining action of the roof overthe crucible, stopping the introduction of liquid metal into the crucible, heating the metalin the crucible to a desired temperature by means of electricity.withdrawing refined iron from said crucible, allowing the ore body to descend in the crucible, adding new ore on top'of the ore body in the furnace, introducing more pig iron into said crucible, allowing the level of said iron to rise again through the lower part of the ore body, and keeping the temperature of the iron \in the crucible at a desired height. substantially as and for, the purpose set forth.

8. A processof purifying and refining pig iron in an electrical furnace, and obtaining a partially refined iron at a desired temperature, which process consists inimmersing and keeping immersed lighter "refining one in pieces beyond its natural depth of immere sionjin the heavier liquid iron to be refined, andof raising thepartially refined iron to a desired temperatureby means of electrical heating before. withdrawing said-iron" from said-electrical furnace.

".In testimony whereof, Ihave signed my name to thisspecific-ation in the "presence of two subscribing witnesses, this fifteenth day of September, 1 909.

JOHN B. V Vitn1esses: SIGMUND S. GUTMAN', DAVID CfGoonMA 

